Learn how the London Stadium has managed to balance football alongside its other uses on this walking tour with photography and art tutor Anthony Palmer. You’ll hear why the design approach changed course and understand how complex challenges were solved.
The London 2012 Olympic Stadium was designed with an upper terrace of temporary seating that would be demounted after the Games, leaving a much smaller capacity venue. Instead, it was re-modelled as the London Stadium, large enough to be a home ground to West Ham United Football Club while retaining its adaptability for athletics and other sports as well as a venue for music concerts.
West Ham’s move to Stratford in 2016, after 112 years at the Boleyn Ground in Upton Park, followed the search for a long-term solution for the stadium. The conversion created a multi-use space that keeps fans close to the action, but raises important questions from adaptation and sustainability in design, to club identity, and how fans sustain and create match-day rituals in new environments.
Beginning along one of the routes that fans use to get to the stadium, join us to see how it matches up to other football stadiums from across the world included in our upcoming exhibition at Tate Liverpool + RIBA North, Home Ground: the architecture of football.
Meeting place: Stratford High Street DLR station, London, E15 3NT.
Please note, this walking tour explores the areas around the stadium but does not go inside.
About the tour guide
Anthony Palmer is a photography tutor and an art and architecture educator. He completed the MA in Photography and Urban Cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London in 2013, having worked beforehand with the Olympic Delivery Authority and has continued to research the story of Stratford’s regeneration. He is a contributor to RIBA's online collections database, RIBApix and will use some of his photos to illustrate the changes talked about on this tour.
Visitor information
- We strive to ensure our events are accessible and enjoyable for all. Occasionally our offsite visits may involve steps and uneven terrain. If you would like to discuss the route and/or your inclusion and access needs, please contact talks@riba.org
- This event will be outside, so please come dressed for the weather
- A photographer may cover this event and the images may be used to publicise future RIBA events. By accepting an invitation or purchasing a ticket you consent to being photographed, filmed or recorded as a visitor attending the event
- The walking tour does not involve entry into the stadium. It is conducted outside the stadium premises and does not provide access to the interior facilities
